Three-Day Course Overview

This course is designed for engineers, developers and managers seeking to successfully apply IEC 61508 to their safety-related electrical systems.

IEC 61508 is the base functional safety standard for various industries including process, nuclear, machinery, among others. The training starts with an overview of functional safety and the IEC 61508 framework for safe development of safety-related electronics. Then the full seven-part IEC 61508 standard is described in detail, including all aspects of safety management, concept and system development, hardware, software and supporting processes. Attendees will work on exercises designed to teach the key concepts of functional safety in electronic hardware, software and systems. A wide range of specific technical examples are used to illustrate important points. This comprehensive course covers all requirements of IEC 61508:2010.

IEC 61508 Training Topics

  • Overview of functional safety and scope of IEC 61508:2010
  • Management of functional safety
    • Coordination and responsibilities
    • Safety culture
    • Functional safety assessments
  • Concept and requirements:
    • Hazard and risk analysis
    • Overall safety requirements
    • E/E/PE system safety requirements specification
  • E/E/PE system realization phase
    • Safety requirements and design
    • Avoidance and control of systematic faults
    • Hardware quantitative metrics, including types of faults, diagnostic coverage, PFD, PHF and SFF values
    • E/E/PE system design and development
  • Software realization phase
    • E/E/PE software safety lifecycle
    • Software safety requirements specification
    • Software design and development
    • Software architecture
    • Software verification and module testing
    • Software tool qualification
  • Commissioning, validation and operation
    • Installation and commissioning
    • Safety validation
    • Operation, maintenance and repair

Optional UL-CFSP Exam

Participants who complete all three days of training are eligible to take a two hour certification exam on the morning of the fourth day. Those who pass the exam are individually certified as a UL Certified Functional Safety Professional in IEC 61508 or UL-CFSP.